obama's special envoy to middle east peace. thank you for stopping by. israel's announcement of increased settlement construction, criticized kbi the white house as quote counterproductive. france, great britain and the eu also criticized. >> the location as opposed to the number. the announcement to build on the area that is known as e-1, designated in that way. is highly significant. because no government of israel has previously announced major construction in that area. it's pretty much open land. and it represents the possible last link in blocking a geographically contiguous palestinian state. so it's highly significant and will be seen that way in the region. >> are the settlements, are they the biggest impediment to a long-term solution? >> no i don't think they are the single-biggest impediment, i think they are one of the impediments, i think it's a mistake to assign rankings to the problems in the middle east. jerusalem is highly important, very emotional on both sides. i should emphasize that while i believe that th